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Career paths can sometimes be unpredictable. They may even lead you back to familiar places. Something similar happened to Leoš Horníček, whose professional life is tied with the Czech Academy of Sciences. He headed the Science Support Division of the CAS Head Office before serving as director of the CAS Head Office from 2011 to 2018. He returned to the same post at the beginning of 2023. What led him to step into the same river twice? In what direction does he plan to steer the CAS Head Office in the years to come? Find out in the interview of the March issue of our in-house e-magazine AB / Academic bulletin below.

Proteins do not usually form from junk DNA – but if they do and they take hold, they become part of the cell’s protein make-up. They are called de novo proteins because they are practically created out of nothing, anew, and not much is known about them. In a new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers from BIOCEV and their German colleagues described a large set of these proteins, helping unravel the otherwise hard-to-decipher properties of the mystery proteins.

On 14 April 2023 at 12:14 PM (UTC), the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), a giant interplanetary probe, embarked on its eight-year odyssey. The journey to the planet Jupiter has a clear goal – to explore its icy moons. The first of the major projects of the European Space Agency’s Cosmic Vision programme also involves the Czech Academy of Sciences, namely its Institute of Atmospheric Physics and the Astronomical Institute.

He refers to his approach to research as philosophical archaeology. Alain de Libera, French writer and, above all, world-renowned expert on medieval philosophy, received the Josef Dobrovský Honorary Medal for Merit in the Philological and Philosophical Sciences, awarded by the CAS, on 19 April 2023. The academic is staying in the Czech Republic for several days during which he delivered two lectures.

Handaxes from the period of the first human migration out of Africa, circular burial chambers, and a collection of rock engravings. Unique findings are being reported by an international team led by the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Prague, which has successfully completed its third excavation season in Oman. The collected samples are now being analysed by experts and will contribute to the reconstruction of the earliest history of the world’s largest sand desert.

Open access is often a hot topic in academic circles. How do the CAS researchers feel about open access publishing? See what Jiří Homola, Member of the Academy Council of the CAS and First Vice-Chairman of the R&D Council, has to say about this model in which scientific knowledge is made freely available to all in an interview published in the in-house e-magazine of the CAS, AB / Academic bulletin.

International Roma Day falls on 8 April. The Roma have not only lived in Europe for centuries, but they have also been present on the American continent and, to some extent, in Africa since the very beginning of colonisation. What unites the Romani people from different regions of the world, and what makes them different? Can we speak of a global Roma identity? These are the questions that anthropologist Martin Fotta from the Institute of Ethnology of the CAS is focusing on in the project Romani Atlantic, funded by the Lumina Quaeruntur Award.

Human society is dependent on electricity; we cannot imagine life without it. So it is no surprise that green energy is an ongoing hot topic. The era of fossil fuels is slowly coming to an end and we must look for new eco-friendly and sustainable sources. Small modular reactors are one possible way forward. Are they safe? What principle do they work on and where can they be put to use? The topic was discussed in a story published in the Czech issue of the CAS magazine A / Věda a výzkum.

Animations of jewels, 3D virtual models of long-gone architecture, and reconstructions of what the stronghold of Valy near Mikulčice might have looked like more than one thousand years ago. The virtual aspect of the Great Moravian Mikulčice Virtually exhibition is two-fold – it draws attention to the visually appealing format and also refers to the importance of modern technology for contemporary archaeology. Visitors will have the chance to examine the scientific findings and otherwise inaccessible artefacts up close. A Czech-English exhibition catalogue, published by the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Brno, is also available.

After working in Germany and the USA, she returned to the Czech Republic in 2022. She is now a lecturer at the Technical University Dresden and her research focuses on spintronics, specifically spin caloritronics. Helena Reichlová, an award-winning researcher working at the Institute of Physics of the CAS, is pioneering a new direction in her field of research while remaining an indomitable optimist.